The unofficial, unauthorized view of Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. The Ancestry Insider reports on, defends, and constructively criticizes these two websites and associated topics. The author attempts to fairly and evenly support both.

Monday, August 31, 2009

A question that has been in my mind for a long time is - when will we see digitized images of the LDS [microfilm] records? I don't mean the excellent pilot site with its almost 250 sources. I mean the unindexed stuff that we now have to order and go to an LDS [family history] center to see. I know they're supposedly in the process of being digitized and that new records from the field are supposed to be in the digital format.

Is there any time frame for when these records will start coming online? I assume they'll do them bit-by-bit, not wait the 10 years or so until they're all done.

I'd love to start seeing these. Readability is better on a computer, and I'm not tied to the miniscule hours offered by the library (usually in the AM and I'm a late night person.)

I rarely see updates on this and no one who seems to cover the LDS [microfilm] records talks about this. One of the very few areas in which the LDS does not do a good job is in letting us know when records are filmed (I was told "keep checking online. That's great for Tiny Town,, but doesn't work for large cities, too many entries to be able to tell what is new) and/or how the digital program is going.

Thanks for reading this.

Bonz

Dear Bonz,

It goes without saying that New FamilySearch (NFS) is job one for FamilySearch. Fortunately, gathering and protecting copies of the world’s records has gone on unabated even while spare resources have been applied to the NFS rollout.

During this time, more has been going on behind the “excellent pilot site” than you have realized. Behind this unassuming web face are hundreds of FamilySearch personnel—not to mention indexers—going about the mammoth task of building and operating a high-capacity digital pipeline—a digital record factory, really—that can provide the very services you’re wondering about, and more:

Publish indexes with links to images on partner websites. This is part of the Records Access Program, which can greatly accelerate the publication of data once the FamilySearch digital pipeline is ready to operate at full capacity.

Quickly publish un-indexed images from the digital cameras that are replacing the microfilm cameras in the field.

Publish legacy vital record indexes previously published on CDs or on the legacy FamilySearch web site. Indexes were created using UDE, the predecessor to FamilySearch Indexing. Sometimes the legacy images used with UDE are also published.

Publish legacy vital record indexes never before published. Indexes were created using UDE.

Same, but with the legacy images used with UDE.

Publish legacy extracted records previously published as part of the IGI, sometimes with previously unpublished, legacy images.

Much is being accomplished behind the scenes in what could be called a Pipeline Pilot. Collections representing each of the scenarios above are being pushed through to Record Search, enabling developers and operators to learn by doing manually, to build replacement parts, and then to operate this marvel of engineering. The FamilySearch Operations team is fabulous, manually bridging gaps in the pilot pipeline. (See “Swivel Chairs” in this article.)

FamilySearch is still not informing anyone when new microfilm is added to their collection (if that is still happening). I was working on a project to do that prior to my job change last year, but haven’t pursued it since then.

Fortunately, they are very good at issuing press releases for new digital collections. I rarely pass these press releases on to you, however, so you’ll need to subscribe to another newsletter to see them. Watch for my recommendation in upcoming days.

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters, less the conference hashtag. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation. Some of these may be corrected for re-publication here on my blog, but not all. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

My policy for tweeting presentations is still evolving, but I will try to keep this article updated. Most of these principles apply to everything I do as the Ancestry Insider. The policy, as it stands:

It is my intent to be ethical and to obey, honor, and sustain the law.

If you feel I have infringed on your intellectual property (IP), please inform me and state your case. Include links to the content. Recite chapter and verse of the supporting law so that both of us can avoid unfortunate misunderstandings of the law. Only requests by the IP owner or authorized agent will be considered. If I feel your case has merit, I will remove the infringing material.

I see no legal difference between the original publication of the tweets and a later republication on my blog.

Where ambiguity exists in copyright law regarding the reduction to fixed form of audio-visual presentations, for ethical reasons I recognize the property rights of the presenter to be the same as if the law regarded the presentation’s audio and visual components to be in fixed form.

I will limit the number and length of exact quotes to comply with my interpretation of fair use.

I will typically use the rate throttle of the Twitter API as a fair-use compliance tool, but reserve the right to post directly on Twitter.com when posting short tweets or when the presenter’s speed is so fast that I can’t possibly include enough of the material to exceed fair use.

I claim copyright of my tweets as an original work. I give permission for republication only if the following copyright notice is included along with a link to the original. Replace xx with the year I published the work: "Copyright 20xx, The Ancestry Insider. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission."

I intend no defamation or malice to presenters. If you feel my coverage of your presentation defames you, I encourage you to first read “Online Defamation Law” by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Note that presenters are limited-purpose public figures, so if I make a factual error without malice, it is not libel. Please contact me and I would be more than happy to correct factual errors. Opinions on matters outside verifiable facts are not libel and not subject to correction.

Usage guidelines:

Exact quotes from the presenter will be designated with double quotation marks "like so." I refers to the presenter and you refers to the audience.

'Single quotes' show quotes of 3rd parties presented by the presenter.

(Parentheses indicate parenthetical information from the speaker.)

[Square brackets indicate my own editorial interjections. I refers to me, the Insider, you refers to you, my readers, and he or she refers to the presenter.]

Because of Twitter length limitations, generally the end of a tweet ends a sentence, quote, parenthetic thought, or editorial comment, whether or not the appropriate ending punctuation marks are present.

Exceptions are usually denoted by ellipsis (three dots) at the end of the tweet, at the beginning of the subsequent tweet, or by a leading lowercase letter on the subsequent tweet.

Other text is my interpretation of the presented information, typically reworded for brevity.

- A single dash at the beginning of a tweet or with a space on either side designates the beginning of a bullet point.

- - Two or more dashes separated by spaces designate additional sub-levels of bullet items.

When republished, each bullet point will start on a new line.

During the SLC Expo, I accidentally used parentheses for editorial information. I will correct these and other problems when I re-publish the Tweets here on the Insider.

I am still experimenting with point of view. Sometimes I have summarized using the presenter’s point of view, meaning I refers to the presenter and you refers to the audience. (If this were fiction and you referred to you, my good readers, then this would actually be second-person narrative. But I digress…) At other times I have used my point of view, in which case I refers to me, he or she or they refer to the presenter(s), and you ambiguously refers to the presenter’s audience or to my audience.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Fortunately, there are plenty of web sites to assist Twitter users. Today would be a good day to try some out because the Salt Lake Family History Expo today and tomorrow is officially encouraging live coverage on Twitter.

Twitter allows the formation of ad-hoc communities through the use of the pound sign (#). (Actually, geeks don’t call it a pound sign. Like star and dot, geek-speak words for asterisk and period, the geek-speak word for the pound sign is hash. But I digress…) Each Twitter community picks a hash tag, which is nothing more than an identifying tag preceded by the hash symbol.

For example, Expo organizers have chosen #FHX09-SLC for this weekend’s conference. For the recent BYU conference, I proposed #byugen. I made the proposal on my blog and tweeted it with the hash tag #genealogy. A temporary community magically materialized around that tag, then dissipated when the tag disappeared from Twitter’s search results.

Twitter Coverage of Conferences

I came across the site when I learned about Twitter coverage by attendees to the recent Society of American Archives (SAA)2009 Conference. Tweeters used the hash tag #saa09. You can peruse archives of the Archives conference at http://twapperkeeper.com/saa09/ . TwapperKeeper.com is a pretty cool site because you can download a copy of all the tweets (nearly 3,000 of them) into a spreadsheet already sorted chronologically. I don’t know how long it keeps the tweets, but I know Twitter doesn’t keep them very long. A search for #byugen will no longer surface tweets made at the July conference.

Your tweets were like a review of the speaker. I especially enjoyed the Colletta one and I think he would be worth the time to hear in person. … I hope that the "profundity" of it all doesn't cause you to stop twittering conferences. You are doing a service for people who aren't able to attend. Thank you! (Katherine)

I enjoyed the tweets from you and Mark Tucker enormously during the event. Thank you. (Sheri)

I've been reading your postings from the BYU Conference with great interest - I wasn't able to attend, and tweets can be great for a "straight to the bone" take on things. (Stephen)

I'm thrilled to be able to read your tweets of both the opening talk by Bro Groberg and especially of the classes you attended - especially with your enlightening comments on the material. It is the next best thing to being there in the first place. Thank you! I surely hope and look forward to seeing all of your classes in this way. We learn so very much from you all along the way and this is icing on the cake. I am grateful to you for your insights. (Mary)

Of course, I also got some real-time encouragement from other Twitterers during the event:

Thanks for the many useful tweets on #byugen keep them coming :-) (@Bwoolley)

Thanks, all of you, for your support. As a result of the discussion, I will change how I tweet a tweeny bit. You may not even discern the changes. I’ll reduce my new Twitter policy to writing in the coming days.

Follow Along

You don’t have to join Twitter to follow the Salt Lake City Family History Expo today and tomorrow (28 and 29 August 2009). Here’s several ways you can listen in:

On TweetChat. This one does require a Twitter account. Follow the conference at http://tweetchat.com/room/FHX09-SLC . This one is my favorite and is probably the web site I will use to post my tweets during the conference.

There are good reasons to follow just one of the people twittering the conference. Of course, there’s the telephone party line problem of a dozen people all talking at once. And all of the above services start dropping tweets when there are more than about 60 or 70 an hour. But if you go right to the individual tweeter, you won’t miss a beat.

Because this group will be so active during the conference, if you normally follow one or more of us, you may find your usual Twitter routine turned upside down by the increased traffic during the conference. Someone recommended another site, TwitterSnooze.com, which will allow you to temporarily un-follow someone. (I’m sorry that I can’t give proper credit for the suggestion. I neglected to record who it was.)

If you aren’t following Twitter real-time, coming back later and trying to read the reverse chronological layout can be down right annoying. Never fear. As with the BYU conference, I will be re-posting my coverage in the days following the conference, right here at The Ancestry Insider. No doubt the other official bloggers will be blogging away as well. Stay tuned…

Aside: EE is necessary because genealogists use a wide range of sources well beyond those in Chicago or Turabian.

Should there be one set of common citation guidelines? (slide 49)

GPS Step 3: Analyze the info to assess quality as evidence.

Slide 54: Sources can be original, derivative (goes into types of derivatives). I have a suggestion for Mark for this slide: Image copies should be adjacent to Original since they are usually more reliable than handwritten copies.

Slide 55: Information can be primary or secondary.

Slide 56: Evidence can be direct, indirect, negative.

Sometimes derivatives can be treated as an original, such as photographic copies such as microfilm or digitized.

Primary information comes from those with first-hand knowledge. Review your sources, information, and evidence for types they are.

GPS Step 5: We arrive at a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion

No conclusion is ever completely final.

One more suggestion for Mark: Include all the items from slide 83 in the case study example, slide 85.

OK, I have another last suggestion. For the Worth Tucker case study, showing an example conclusion may be appropriate as a teaching vehicle, but it’s worth mentioning, as Janet Hovorka did in her presentation on Tuesday, that genealogists aren’t forced to a conclusion like a judge in a trial. If sufficient evidence does not yet exist to come to a conclusion, don’t.

This will really be the final one; honest. Another point Mills makes in EE is that the written conclusion can be extremely simple when the evidence is direct, non-conflicting, and compelling. I think when such evidence arises from near-original sources and primary information, that no formal written conclusion is necessary. Of course, you still need proper citations.

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

I was visiting with some vendors and arrived late to the presentation. I inferred from Karen’s comments during the session that she realized her prepared presentation only covered New England, despite the session title and description. I think she might have filled out the presentation at the last moment with additional slides which causes her to present incredibly fast. It was like drinking from a fire hose! As a result, I’ve supplemented my tweets with additions from her syllabus plus my own thinking, both shown in italics.

To see the syllabus notes for an earlier version of this presentation, click here.

The research process for Internet resources is the same as normal sources. 1. Decide what you want to learn: - an individual identity - a complete name - the rest of the family - a date - a location - a relationship (or cement a suspected relationship) - evidence

2. Select the websites most likely to have what you want to learn. 3. Search the sites. 4. Copy and paste text information to avoid errors. Save digital images of imaged records. 5. Create a source citation, including the website’s source for the information. 6. Evaluate the reliability of the source and the information for use as evidence. If warranted, make conclusions. 7. Note any needs or suggestions for future research. 8. Use an organized method to store your findings: your copies of the evidence, citations, any conclusions made, and written explanations of non-obvious reasoning.

That was a fire hose presentation. Couldn't capture more than a tenth of what she covered, but not certain anyone else did either.

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

Not talking about what's new in the library version. [(I suppose many of the new features are not available in the Ancestry Library Edition.)] Showed one of their new commercials (that I still need to write about). (2:58 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Place-filtering in Search will be launching some time in 2009. Launching search from tree gives person card at top of page. (3:20 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Showed new content viewer, one of the new features that launched yesterday. View both image and index at same time, with ability to correct name, birth year, birthplace. (3:22 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

New viewer allows entering comments about the record or about a person. Also see Source information for the record. (3:23 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Q. If you change the Last Name, will it get indexed? A. Yes. It keeps the original value and adds your change to the index. (3:25 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Q. Do you coordinate with FamilySearch? A. We are trying very hard to not duplicate projects being done on FamilySearch Indexing. (Indexing tool is very similar to FamilySearch Indexing.) (3:48 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Q. I'd like the ability to contact tree owner. A. For the new private trees, you can send tree owner a message. (3:49 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Now doing Q and A. Many people leaving early. (3:50 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

Link to Collection Information will link directly to the FamilySearch Wiki. In the search results, the icon to the left of a result (2:12 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

... is available. Print image now includes options: Fit to page, rotate, smooth, invert. Will be adding record details and notes. (2:13 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

In the lists of collections: * indicates new collection in last 30 days, "No images" and "Browse images only" are self explanatory. (2:17 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Browse items are called waypoints. New version has longer lists, that is, more items are shown at a time. Image viewer comes up at bottom of page, waypoints still visible up (2:18 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

... above. Zoom control moves to thumbnail at lower-right. Showed icon with green arrows. Means the original image is on an affiliate site (2:20 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Clicking icon takes you to affiliate site. They can charge. Q. Does the Church get any money for that? A. No. (2:24 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Q. Weren't indexers supposed to get free access to the images? A. Currently don't require login. In future when that option is available, (2:25 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

you will be able to see some records only if you sign in. Others only if you are member of the LDS Church. Others if you are an indexer. (2:27 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

These are called "roles." Q. Will images be available for 1880? A. Not certain about 1880, but in general, yes, if we can show images we will. (2:29 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

The recent 5 collections from Canada today are index only. When we have login, we will be able to show any registered user the image (2:30 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

- link to NFS & other sites, - 1 Billion+ names by end of year (quadruple current capacity).

Now taking questions. (2:41 PM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

FamilySearch is a name that resonates. Example: at the Who Do You Think You Are conference he asked a guy: why are you here? The guy replied, I don't know. Steve eventually learned that the guy’s Aunt had died recently. He became curious about his family. (9:26 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Tells funny story about being stopped by airport security. The agents’ questioning quickly turned to genealogy once they learned who he worked for. (9:30 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

Hats off to David Rencher. It’s rare that a keynote speaker at the BYU Conference submits a handout for the conference syllabus. I am extremely impressed with Rencher, who submitted a handout in time to be printed up with the syllabus.

It is not uncommon for BYU to post transcripts of keynotes presented by leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which they have done this year for Elder John H. Groberg. This page has a link to Elder Groberg’s talk, “Jesus is the Key.” There has been talk suggesting that Rencher’s slides might (underline might) also be posted, probably on the same page.

With no further ado, here’s the first tweets from the 3rd day of the conference.

Thursday, 30 July 2009

Elder Alann F. Packer is attending the conference. Assistant Executive Director for the Church family history department. (7:42 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Packer is saying a few words before the keynote. He is often asked questions about when this or that is coming. Many answers have been given at this conference. (7:43 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

FamilySearchplanning takes into account for 88 billion individuals who have already lived and billions more coming. That's why our planning and execution is taking so long. (7:45 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Turned time over to David Rencher, “FamilySearch Tackles the Information Explosion.” (Microphone not working.) From the book Groundswell:

“Three trends—people’s desire to connect, new interactive technologies, and online economics—have created a new era. This is the fast-growing phenomenon we call the groundswell. Not only is it here; it’s evolving rapidly—creating an incredible challenge for corporate strategists.” (7:47 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

- affiliate/NFS. There are benefits to using both off- and online trees.

CD products stopped in 2002. Resources shifted to NFS. In the syllabus, Rencher said the CD products will be discontinued when the present inventories are exhausted. “The data from these products will eventually be moved to FamilySearch.org and will be available for free,” he said. Some of the products—vital records from Mexico, Scandinavia, and Europe as well as the 1880 U.S. Census and the 1881 British Census—are already available on Record Search.

IGI replaced by Record Search and NFS. (7:57 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat ) Rencher said, “ultimately, the relevant data in the IGI will be accessible to patrons through FamilySearch’s Record Search and the Family Tree feature. All genealogies shared through PRF will ultimately be searchable through the Family Tree feature.”

PRF still active and growing.

FHLC on CD- pubbed in 2002. - 279,762 titles added since then. - Use the Internet version. (7:58 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat ) which “is updated every half hour, so it is the most efficient way to access the catalog information.”

volunteers indexed them [parish records of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)] but Scots won't allow migration to web. “For the immediate future, Scottish Church Records will continue to only be available on the old DOS version of FamilySearch in the family history centers and the Family History Library. The records are also available for a fee on the website Scotland's People.”

Vietnam and Korean War Casualty Files - moving to Record Search. “There are plans to convert this data to the FamilySearch website. These files are lower priority than the vital record and census materials.”

(8:04 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

UDE phased out in coming months. FS Indexing replacing it.

NFS - think of it in terms of temple submissions. Created in tree form to (8:06 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

add identifying information-relationships. David gets no special treatment. His ancestors also have bad data he can't correct. (8:08 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Christening before birth.

Elder Monte J. Brough said: members [of the Church] spend too much time reorganizing info instead of learning new [because of what FamilySearch has provided to them.] (8:09 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

FamilySearch Wiki can capture tremendous knowledge of all of you. Example of town in Texas physically moved from Limestone county to Hill county. (8:11 AM Jul 30th from TweetChat )

Book scanning. Up to 40K+ books online. Scanning projects are underway at Family History Library, BYU, BYU-Hawaii, BYU-Idaho, ACPL (Allen County Public Library), Houston Public Library(David's sister is a volunteer missionary working there), Mid-Continental Library in Independence, Missouri. “The technology…allows users to do an every word or name search.” Many of these books had no printed index (8:21 AM Jul 30th from web )

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

Databases at the FHL: 3,700 databases available. FHLC gives CD number. Previously checked out at window. Now go thru patron desktop, although the list is now so long, it is best to use the FHLC catalog.

Review the Trial Websites page each time you come to the library. It has subscription websites on loan to the FHL for evaluation and changes very frequently.

Most of Patron Desktop available on wireless for laptop users. (3:32 PM Jul 29th from TweetChat )

Remember: The world wide web is ALWAYS in beta! (3:35 PM Jul 29th from TweetChat )

Taking Q & A. (3:36 PM Jul 29th from TweetChat )

Q. Can’t you make a list of new stuff available? A. We are developing a page, What's New At the Library, that could be made available through FHC Portal. (3:38 PM Jul 29th from TweetChat )

Q. Can’t you make more of these links available outside the FHL? A. Ultimately would like everything at the library available anywhere in the world. (3:38 PM Jul 29th from TweetChat )

Q. FHL Favorites? A. The FHL favorites is now available through http://bit.ly/fxzNv (3:42 PM Jul 29th from web )

Remember that tweets are limited to 140 characters. Less the #byugen hashtag, each tweet could not exceed 132 characters. Hence, tweets often use abbreviations, bad grammar, and lack proper punctuation.

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The Ancestry Insider is consistently a top ten and readers’ choice award winner. He has been an insider at both the two big genealogy organizations, FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. He was Time Magazine Man of the Year in both 1966 and 2006. And he really is descended from an Indian princess.

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The Ancestry Insider was a readers’ choice for the top four genealogy news and resources blogs, part of Family Tree Magazine’s “40 Best Genealogy Blogs” for 2010. He reports on the two big genealogy organizations, Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. He was named a “Most Popular Genealogy Blogs” by ProGenealogists, and has received Family Tree Magazine’s “101 Best Web Sites” award every year since 2008. A genealogical technologist, the Insider has a post-graduate technology degree and holds a dozen technology patents in the United States and abroad. He has done genealogy since 1972 and has worked in the computer industry since 1978. He was Time Magazine Man of the Year in both 1966 and 2006. And he really is descended from an Indian princess.

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